Announcing a ₹500 crore Operation Green for the development of the agricultural sector Finance Minister ArunJaitley has reinforced the focus of the government in increasing the income of farmers and raising the minimum support price.
Presenting the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2018-19, the minister proposed an Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of Rs 2000 crore and the upgradation of rural haats to Grameen agricultural markets. In increasing the Minimum Support Price of all cropsto at least 1.5 times that of the production cost, he promised the full support of the government in ensuring the payment of full MSP even if farmers sell below MSP. He proposed the introduction of Kishan credit cards.

Buoyed by India’s growing economy and its rising global profile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to pitch the India growth story to international political and financial elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos.Mr Modi’s overarching message at Davos will be “India is open for business,” also the theme of the promotional campaign India has launched in Davos. Mr Modi will speak on the theme for the 2018 WEF, “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World,” and India’s role in the world. In his plenary speech, PM Modi is expected to highlight pathbreaking economic reforms taken by his government which have led to enhanced ease of doing business. India jumped 42 places in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business last year.
“In recent years, India’s engagement with the outside world has become truly and effectively multi-dimensional covering the political, economic, people to people, security and other spheres… At Davos, I look forward to sharing my vision for India’s future engagement with the international community,” Mr Modi said ahead of his visit to the picturesque Alpine town of Davos that holds the annual meet.

India-Israel economic relations are poised for a decisive transformation, with the fusion of India’s size and scale with Israel’s sharpness and edge.Pitching economic ties onto a higher trajectory, India and Israel jointly launched the ‘I4Fund Call for Proposal’ website as part of the maiden call for the joint research and development (R&D) initiative. Under this $40 million fund, both sides will pursue technological innovations in areas such as water, agriculture, energy and digital technologies and create a support structure to convert “know-how” into “show-how”.
Speaking at the India-Israel Business Summit in New Delhi, which included 100 delegates from 74 Israeli companies, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Israel’s “remarkable spirit of innovation, enterprise and perseverance” and underlined the shared commitment to connect the talent pool of both sides towards achieving path-breaking technological advances.

Celebrating India as the land of entrepreneurs and the incubator of innovations, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has exhorted the international community to invest in India and showcased the burgeoning entrepreneurial culture in the world’s fastest growing major economy.Highlighting India’s recent economic achievements and the government’s successful efforts at promoting an investor friendly environment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the world’s top innovators and entrepreneurs at the 8th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES-2017) in Hyderabad on November 28. Inaugurating the show with United States President Donald Trump’s Adviser Ivanka Trump, Mr Modi underscored the them of “Women First, Prosperity for All”, and pointed out a growing number of women entrepreneurs in India. This is the first time India is hosting the GSE, which has brought together over 1500 investors, entrepreneurs, academicians, think-tanks and other stakeholders to propel the global entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Against the backdrop of the unfolding resurgence of India and East Africa, the fastest growing region in a rising African continent, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has called for pitching the burgeoning economic partnership onto a higher orbit.
India’s Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia underscored the striking convergence between the two regions and spoke about an “alignment between the India Growth Story and Africa’s own vision of resurgence, as crystallised in African Agenda 2063.”
Mrs Teaotia is leading a high-profile delegation of top Indian industrialists, investors and senior officials, to the CII-EXIM Bank Regional Conclave on India and East Africa in Kamala.
Setting an upbeat note about the future of India’s economic relations with Uganda and East Africa, Mr Museveni exhorted Indian investors to take advantage of the improving investment environment in the country. “The potential is very big. Purchasing power in Africa is going up. Africa is the business centre of the future. You are right now in the right place at the right time,” Mr Museveni told delegates at the CII-Exim Bank Regional Conclave on “India and East Africa: Partners in Development.”
Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman, CII Africa Committee, and CMD, Kirloskar Brothers Limited, dwelled on focus areas of the India-East Africa partnership, which includes infrastructure, banking & finance, manufacturing, agriculture and food processing and knowledge sectors like IT & telecom, health care, education & skill development.
As India gears up to intensify trade and investment with the dynamic East African region, promoting Brand India in the region will be crucial. Brand India is synonymous with Trust, Quality and Innovation, said Mr Kirloskar.

Unfazed by Brexit, India and the European Union are set to map the next steps in their mutually enriching and empowering partnership at their 14th summit in New Delhi. The 14th summit is taking place against a mutating geopolitical and geo-economic landscape, marked by uneven global economic growth and the rise of radicalism and alt-right forces in Europe and elsewhere.
In his interaction with EU leaders, including Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to raise the bar for India-EU partnership in both economic and strategic spheres.
Besides upscaling economic and strategic partnership, the 14th summit could be a milestone in entrenching the EU’s role as a key partner in India’s ongoing nation-building projects. In days to come, one can see enhanced support of the EU for flagship schemes of national resurgence like Smart City, Skill India, Clean Ganga, Digital India and Start-up India. In particular, the EU is set to emerge as one of preferred partners in India’s quest for urban renaissance.
Moving beyond specific deliverables, the 14th summit should culminate in a big picture view of steering this strategic partnership between the vibrant multi-cultural, multi-ethnic societies of India and the European Union. With the liberal global order under attack by alt-right politics and divisive forces, India and the EU can blend their strengths to champion a new narrative for open societies and inclusive globalisation.

Has the Indian economy slowed down? If so, should Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetization be demonized? These are all-important questions that have sparked a war of words between two of BJP’s bigwigs.

The verbal duelling between India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and ex-Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha shows no signs of abating, with Mr. Sinha hitting back at Mr. Jaitley over his “job applicant at 80” jibe. “If I was a job applicant, he (Jaitley) would not be there in the first place,” Mr Sinha said.

What set off the political slugfest is a hard-hitting column by the former two-time Finance Minister and BJP veteran Mr. Sinha, criticizing the economic policies of the Modi government, and launching a personal attack on Mr. Jaitley’s poor handling of the economy. “I would be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the Finance Minister has made of the economy,” he wrote. “The Prime Minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His Finance Minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters.”

Responding to the article, Mr. Jaitley, speaking at the launch of India at 70, Modi at 3.5 – Capturing India’s transformation under Narendra Modi, by Bibek Debroy and Ashok Malik, took a swipe at Mr. Sinha saying, “Probably, a more appropriate title for your book would have been ‘India at 70, Modi at 3.5 and a job applicant at 80’.” Without taking names he further said he did not “have the luxury as yet of being a former Finance Minister; nor do I have the luxury of being a former Finance Minister who’s turned a columnist.” Mr. Jaitley also took a swipe at Mr. Sinha for “acting in tandem” with Congress veteran and ex-Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.